Week 3 (Jan. 15-21) What This Story Means to Me

There are many family stories I have uncovered over the years which have made clear how fortunate I am to live in a time when, in most countries, there are safety nets to help those who fall on hard times.  For some ancestors, finding help during times of trouble was difficult, and few social services existed.  

One such family I have followed through the census is my Hines branch of the family tree.  In the 1841 census (below) parents James and Susan are alive and children John, Samuel, Albert and Hannah are listed with them.  Eldest daughter Susannah is not home on census night and so not listed here.

 

By the time of the next census in 1851, circumstances have changed for the family.  Both parents have died, and the five siblings have been split up.  The two eldest children, Susannah and John, now aged 18 and 16, are living with their maternal grandparents and are listed below as house servant and farm servant respectively.

Middle child Samuel, age 14, has been found a home with relatives, and is listed as a lodger in the house of James Prentice.  His maternal grandmother Susannah's maiden name was Prentice (she is the Susannah Woollard listed above, who took in the two eldest children), and James Prentice is her nephew.

The two youngest children, Albert, now age 12 and Hannah, age 10, have been less fortunate.  Apparently there were no relatives willing and able to take these youngest children, and they are listed in the census as paupers in the Cosford Union Workhouse.

So not only have these children lost their parents, they have also been split up, the ones old enough taken by relatives and put to work.  The two youngest, not yet old enough to perform sufficient useful labour, are sent to the workhouse.

#52Ancestors